Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Chris Visions, Daily News, Kurt Ankeny, ron wimberly

Harrison

Posted on April 7, 2016April 8, 2016

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Frank SantoroOctober 30, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsThis week’s scene report is brought to you by Dustin Harbin. I first met Dustin at Heroes Con back in 2008. Check out this picture of me, Dan and Tim at the ComicsComics panel they had for us. Boy, that was a fun show. Dustin was working for the show’s organizer and was in charge of “Indy Island”- and he got to create this awesome show within a show. There was literally a big spot in the center of the hall that was for us indy guys. Jaime was there. Evan Dorkin was there. The Pittsburgh crew of Jim Rugg, Ed Piskor, and Tom Scioli. Sammy Harkham. Kevin H. Brian Ralph. Me, Dan and Tim. In Charlotte, North Carolina? This was the kind of show that Michael Golden went to. Chris Pitzer introduced me to Matt Wagner – that should tell you what kind of show it was. Lots of great back issues – a classy old school convention. It wasn’t really an “indy” show – but Dustin made it into one. (Or tried to. Long story) That was where I first met Tom Spurgeon. And his hi-larious brother, Whit. Saw Marc Arsenault – whom I hadn’t seen over a decade. There was a Dub music and Hot Rod show slash dance party in the same convention center that year. So in the hotel bar there were a lot of 6 feet tall Amazon women every night. One morning Brian Ralph had this amazing story about getting into the dance party. It was a really fun time and I always think if it wasn’t for Dustin most of us “indy” guys wouldn’t have gone to that show. So, thanks, Dustin. Mr. Harbin has become quite a cartoonist since we first met. I asked him to fill us in on the goings on in his hometown of Charlotte. Check it out after the new DeForge cartoon! Over and out. ———————— INTERMISSION FUNNIES by MICHAEL DEFORGE ———————– Charlotte, NC scene report by Dustin Harbin Charlotte is a weird city, in that it has a fairly large comics readership, but lacks a truly vibrant comics scene; though the seeds are there. Most of the existing comics community is related in some way to Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find, one of the larger comics shops in the country, the organizer of the yearly Heroes Convention, and my employer for most of 14 years. Shelton Drum started out in Charlotte selling comics at flea markets and by mail order back in the 70’s, and then in 1980 he established Heroes in a teeny tiny little space just around the corner from where it is now. In the boom years of the late 80’s and 90’s, Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find had as many as six different stores going at one time, from Florida up through Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I showed up in 1996 just in time to usher in The Great Comic Book Miasma Of The Late Nineties–within a couple years, Shelton had shrunk his mini-empire down to one shop, and since then has focused on just making that shop the best shop. I say that Heroes is the center of the Charlotte comics scene not out of loyalty to my former employer–although I am loyal–but more because I really think there would be no real scene at all without him. Shelton built comics up around here, has consistently–even despite my arguments to the contrary when I was doing the ordering–insisted on carrying the most complete stock possible, and through Heroes Convention has brought thousands of comic book pros to town over the last thirty years. There are other shops in Charlotte, but for my money without the bulwark of Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find through the lean years, Charlotte would just be one of those cities with a couple of crappy strip mall shops that smell like pee and cigarettes. We’re not a particularly culturally rich city; just a few affluent suburbs sprinkled around some banks, with a college about 10 miles away, completely disconnected from the city.†Without a truly vibrant cultural community, Charlotte is mainly a city of consumers, not makers. Apply this in spades to comic books–I can think of maybe half a dozen full time cartoonists working around here. If you look at the really great comics cities, they seem to coalesce around great shops, and are then perpetuated by a community of artists. Think of Pittsburgh, where you have a Jim Rugg, Tom Scioli, and Ed Piskor active in their community, talking to new cartoonists, encouraging and offering advice. That kind of thing is invaluable. You can get it from other communities, online for instance, but it’s not the same as feeling like a part of a real, visceral community–meeting the other artists on equal terms, talking about what you’re doing, learning as you go. Whenever I travel to another city with a strong comics scene, I’m always intensely envious. New York or Toronto or Chicago–the cartooning communities are so large there are multiple individual scenes within the same city! If you live in Chicago and are a cartoonist, it’s probably old hat to ride your bike over to someone’s loft and draw with Laura Park and Aaron Renier and Jeremy Tinder and Jeffrey Brown, no big whoop. But! We are making strides, in our own way. Because there is a large comics reading community in Charlotte–Heroes’ continued success, and the success of HeroesCon, is testament to that. We’ve just been slow to build a creative community to match. But it’s starting to happen. A few years ago, Eraklis Petmezas started Sketch Charlotte, a group of artists and creative people into comic books, who meet at the Showmars across the street from Heroes once a week. Weirdly, I’ve never actually been, even though I live right around the corner myself. I tried to go this past week, with this article in mind, but they were already wrapping things up when I showed up late. Heroes employees Seth Peagler and Rico Renzi, the latter of which is a professional comics colorist also, were outside chatting with Henry Eudy, who’d printed up some inking exercises Ben Towle had put up on his site. It was nice. I don’t know why I’ve never been. Possibly because they don’t serve booze at Showmars, and also… Showmars. Regardless, the list of regulars and semi-regulars at Sketch Charlotte is close to a complete list of the comics pros living in Charlotte: Jason Latour, he of the recent TCJ interview, Chris Brunner, Bridgit Scheide, Chrissie Zullo, and probably some more who I’m forgetting. It’s a start. The other thing Charlotte’s got going for it as a comics scene is Andy Mansell, who runs the semi-monthly Heroes Discussion Group, which he and I created together back in 2007 or so, but which only he has had the energy and drive and acumen to maintain. The image above is from the Ghost World discussion a few weeks ago, which was great.†Andy will read a book backwards and forwards, take another book’s worth of notes on it, come up with a million theories regarding minutiae the rest of us never noticed, and still patiently allow most of the discussion to be guided by the ideas of the group. He doesn’t get paid for it, he’s just a smart guy who likes comics and wants to talk about them. I bring up Andy and the discussion group not to make it sound like the whole Charlotte comics scene is wrapped around that one shop–I’m sure the other store owners in Charlotte might disagree. But I do think our scene, and probably most scenes in most cities, grow up around a few passionate people who just start to make things happen. Whether it’s a Shelton Drum or Andy Mansell or Bill Boichel or Jim Rugg or whoever. If you live in a town without a real comics scene, I guess you’re just going to have to start one yourself. It’s not going to just happen while you sit moldering in your house curled over your drawing board (like me). Share this page: [...]

8 1/2 by Roman Muradov

Chris Anthony DiazAugust 4, 2016The Diaz ArchiveRoman Muradov’s portrayal of Barbara Steele as Gloria Morin from Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 (Italy, 1963) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION. Roman dressed up like TOBY DAMMIT and his candid along with Alison Dubois was taken at Mission: Comics & Art, San Francisco, Friday, October 12, 2012. And Graham Willcox did the color on Roman’s candid Share this page: [...]

08/26/2016

Sally IngrahamAugust 26, 2016NewsThe last Friday in August! We made it! It’s been a weird month – but this week was full of interesting things, like “one-page graphic novels” with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, Shannon Wright comics on The Nib, Nicole Claveloux being published in English, an ocean-spanning exchange between Ulli Lust and Priya Kuriyan, sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou, a look at Afua Richardson, and Jillian Tamaki in The New York Times. ————————————————————————————————— Shannon Wright has a comic on The Nib – Trump, Black Americans Don’t Need Your Help (above) – read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Françoise Mouly presented a piece in The New Yorker about the “one-page graphic novels” that have stuck in her husband’s head over the years. Art Spiegelman has often been called the “father of graphic novels” but has only recently started softening to the idea. “Spiegelman decided it was time to embrace the term that has come to characterize “an ambitious comic book,” whether the narrative is drawn on one page or three hundred. “Since comics is the art of compression, I started looking back on the one-pagers which either in terms of their subject matter or in terms of their resonance had stayed in my brain,” he said.“ Check out the list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The New York Review of Books announced that it will be publishing The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux in 2017. This collection is the first of Claveloux’s work that will appear in English, and it includes an introduction by Daniel Clowes. Clowes writes: “The artwork…is some of the most beautiful ever created for our lowly form—vivid, dreamlike, with intensely vivid hand-separated colors unlike anything I’ve ever seen.“ These short stories were originally published in the 1970’s. Read more about the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Here on Comics Workbook we are happy to present new sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou. Her recent visit to St. Louis’ Magic House (a children’s museum) left her somewhat underwhelmed, but at least she had time to draw…! More pages and the whole story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Ulli Lust (author of Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life) met Priya Kuriyan in Delhi, India, this spring, and they began an interesting project together. As Ulli Lust writes on Electrocomics: “Priya Kuriyan draws portraits of people in Delhi since years and so does Ulli Lust in Berlin. They met this spring in India and decided to begin a visual dialog: One sees an interesting person and sends the drawing to the other one to find an opponent on the other side of the planet.“ Here are the first results of this unique pen-pal exchange – Their second exchange can be viewed here – and it includes more of the stories behind each drawing. We’ll have to keep an eye on the site for more as the year progresses. Keep up with what Ulli Lust is into these days HERE. And you can find more comics and artwork by Priya Kuriyan HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Check out work by Afua Richardson, one of the artists working on Marvel’s Black Panther spin-off World of Wakanda. Vamp Jazz hands. . 08132k16 A photo posted by Afua Richardson (@doctafoo) on Aug 13, 2016 at 11:26pm PDT Afua Richardson has been working in the comics industry since 2004, when Brandon Graham got her a gig at NBM publishing. There is a lot of buzz about the series she is currently working on, stemming from the early July upheaval about Marvel’s attempts at diversity. Back in May, Richardson already had a lot to say about that to Ian Freeman at The Urban Daily: “Diversity is not just planting a black person or a gay person or a woman in a character normally held by caucasian men. It’s getting into the minutia of the human experience. Stories ages ago had common tropes and icons that were not even realistic to what would be considered the “White experience” – one-dimensional, straight-path good guys and unreasonably evil bad guys who explain their plans just for them to be foiled. That’s not reality. Even terms like white and black when describing people almost do a disservice because there is so much baggage with these terms. White = automatically racist, easier life and decedents of slave owners. And that’s just not factually correct in every case. Black in no way defines the cultural variety, philosophy or culture of the individual in question. But comics were a very niche industry that were created by a small group of people who had to answer to an even smaller group of editors and executives who wanted to make sure they spoke to their client base. Now that that base has expanded, people can speak with their dollars and back the books they want to see made. Falcon as Captain America says to comic readers that an African-American man can hold the mantle of Captain and American. Its not politically correct to show the variables in philosophy illustrated in fiction. It’s realistic.” – Afua Richardson Read the rest of this interview HERE. Read more about World of Wakanda HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Over on The New York Times there is a good interview with Jacqueline Woodson – which you should definitely check out – but I mention it because Jillian Tamaki did the accompanying illustration. Rad. ————————————————————————————————— See you next week! – Sally Share this page: [...]

11/16/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 16, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre: las Comiqueras en diciembre; Octavio Beares sobre GrafMadrid + video; Venta de arte: Alexis Ziritt; Revista La Traca; La Polola Podcast #20: Realidad; Inés Estrada WINTER MEGASALE. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Madrid, España – GrafMadrid Octavio Beares ha escrito un poco sobre el milagro que es el festival, Graf. Octavio Beares es un veterano de los cómics, osea que su perspectiva es muy pero muy valorosa. Si no han ido a Graf, hay que ir, este festival es el “Comic Arts Brooklyn” del cómic hispanohablante! Entonces voy a Graf, y Mireia Pérez, cuando se cosca de que este tipo al que recuerda de otros grafs “soy yo”, Octavio, y me suelta una risa así de grande y sincera y un abrazorte del doce, se disipa cansancio y dudas. Porque es la primera. Vienen más de seguido, de más encuentros, y cuando me reencuentro con Gerardo y con tantos autores y colegas críticos, con gente que veo muy de vez en vez y con gente que solo conocía por Redes Sociales, y cuando estalla ese ambiente ígneo que es estar en Graf… “cansados mis bemoles”. El cómic es un manantial de cosas buenas, de gente BELLA, de talento, de ganas. Reventados todos por tres días duros, sobre todo organizadores y expositores. pero felices, o eso creo yo. En serio, id a Graf si os gustan los cómics y no conocéis este festival. El manantial brota de allí, es la gente, el pozo en que nace el arco iris. Hay una sinergia brutal, es centrifugante y vertiginoso. Es amoroso, afectivo, admirativo, alegre y POSITIVO. Es una sinfonía luminosa de ganas de hacer cosas, conocer gentes, autores, amigos virtuales. Es tan intenso que te balda y sabe a poco a la vez. Y si no conoces a nadie, te encontrarás en un espacio que acoge y que alimenta, con charlas bárbaras y talleres para todas las edades y todos los pelajes. Léelo todo AQUI! Aquí podéis ver una pequeña muestra de los expositores de GrafMadrid: ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Santiago, Chile: Comiqueras – Diciembre 10, 2016 Con la intención de fomentar la autopublicación de cómics y la producción de Autoras en la historieta local, se ha creado este evento. Para que se pueda exponer y conversar sobre la historieta hecha por mujeres cis, hetero o lgbtiq y compartir experiencias sobre la historia de las comiqueras en Chile y compartir conocimientos sobre autopublicación con aquellas que estén interesadas en comenzar a autopublicarse. Pueden participar todes aquelles mujeres y/o trans heterosexuales o lgbtiq que se dediquen a la creación de cómics de forma independiente y autogestinada en formato libro artesanal, fanzine u otro tipo de autopublicación. ¿Eres chica y haces cómics? Inscríbete para participar de este evento! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Miami, Florida: Space Riders pages by Alexis Ziritt are on sale via Out of Step Arts. Buy a couple and bring ’em home! If you’re wondering what Ziritt’s tools of choice are, he’s got the answer for you right here. He gets this question, pretty often! Practicality above all. Road-friendly, simple & reliable. Pentel Pocket Brush. Kuretake No. 8 brush pen. Pentel Brush Pilot Petit3 Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Ultradraw Waterproof Ink ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Valencia, España: La exposición Revista La Traca. La transgresión como norma acaba de habrir sus puertas. Se puede ver hasta el próximo 15 de enero en La Universitat de València en la Sala Estudi General del Centre Cultural La Nau. Comisariada por los profesores Antonio Laguna y Francesc-Andreu Martínez, la muestra es la primera dedicada a la revista, en la que se puede ver material inédito sobre la que fue la publicación de mayor tirada de España, con en torno a medio millón de ejemplares despachados en su época dorada. La revista La Traca. Semanari pa la chent de tro reflejó una cultura alternativa a la corriente mayoritaria de los medios de comunicación, siendo inmisericordes con la corrupción. No en vano, la revista fue una de las poquísimas publicaciones en caricaturizar la figura de Franco. La propaganda antifascista se convirtió en el eje central del semanario una vez estalló la Guerra Civil cuando, derivado de su éxito en Valencia, ya se editaba en castellano y distribuía por todo el país. Hitler y Mussolini eran representados como enemigos de la cultura y el progreso, siendo el 17 de marzo de 1937 cuando, por primera vez y de manos del colaborador José María Carnicero, aparece la figura de Franco, dibujado como homosexual –“el general invertido”-. Vestido de mujer, suspirando por los bellos marroquíes o mirando de forma golosa a unos platanos (la fruta), las viñetas no dejaban de producirse. Hasta el final. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Texas, USA: Inés Estrada esta ofreciendo un MEGAbundle, su “Winter reading mega pack“! Prepárate para el invierno y ahora $41 cuando compras este mega pack. Get over $90 of comics for just $49! Solamente disponible en http://gatosaurio.com. Prepárate! ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/292329543″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] ⚡Santiago, Chile –Escucha @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! It’s always a fun, relaxing and enlightening listen. If you haven’t tuned in to La Polola just yet, Póngale Play 😉 En este capítulo las chicas conversanacerca de los límites entre la realidad y la ficción, entre lo concreto y la fantasía, entre lo comprobable y lo imaginario, lo privado y lo público. Conversan acerca de estas posturas en la narrativa a través de diferentes libros que vamos poniendo como ejemplo. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: thee Santoro School Handbook by Kurt Ankeny Comics Workbook has had a great show season, with visits to SPX, CXC, LICAF, & CAB. The workshops we have hosted at these events have been a highlight and folks all over are digging into comics making with new ideas swirling in their heads. If you didn’t making it to a workshop this year, be sure to keep an eye out for us next year – and meanwhile, check out thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics by Frank Santoro and Kurt Ankeny. Printed offset on cardstock by the professionals at The Prolific Group, Winnipeg, Canada, this is not some cheap color xerox or risograph. Looks great, feels great, and even smells great. Always available at our store HERE – free shipping worldwide! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

08/17/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 17, 2017NewsSally here with work by Indian cartoonists Sarnath Banerjee, and Appupen – plus a few other comics news notes! ———————————————————————————————— A recent Comics Workbook Rowhouse resident – Javed Haque – brought along a copy of Corridor by Sarnath Banerjee to show us. This comic has been loudly touted as India’s first graphic novel – a masterful publicity move, which, although it is untrue, helped get international eyes on the book and brought good attention and energy to the alt-comics scene in India. The River of Stories by Orijit Sen was published in 1994, and is actually the first Indian graphic novel. Corridor, created by Sarnath Banerjee in 2004, it is set in contemporary Delhi and follows the adventures of 4 characters. At the center of the group is Jehangir Rangoonwala, something of a Socrates wannabe who owns the second hand bookshop where the other characters meet and mingle. Brighu is searching for rare books and maybe an even rarer love. Digital Dutta meanders among his own dreams and ambitions, but makes little progress. Shintu is recently married, and quite caught up in keeping his domestic life spicy. Written and drawn by Sarnath Banerjee (who grew up in Calcutta and Delhi in the 70’s) the artwork is a mixture of black and white drawings, color work, and collage. Banerjee captures Delhi street life and “the psyche of middle-class India” deftly, and with compassionate humor. He has gone on to publish 3 more comics – The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers (2007), The Harappa Files (2011), and All Quiet in Vikaspuri (2016). In a great interview from last year on Guernica Magazine, Sarnath Banerjee talks about how he came to make Corridor. He was more of a documentary film maker, but through a string of small miracles he received a version of the McArthur Genius Award, and suddenly had to produce the graphic novel he had accidentally pitched. He actually went to Orijit Sen (who if you recall made India’s true first graphic novel) in the hope that Sen would draw the stories Banerjee had written. He got encouragement and support, but not an artist. So he drew Corridor himself. “I started at the deep end. I learned while writing the book. I started drawing all the time after that. Like a maniac. My ex-wife recently told me that when she was cleaning up our house she found trunks—I had forgotten about this—trunks and trunks full of notebooks on which every surface had been drawn. I drew everything. I drew toasters, air conditioners, chairs, people and flowers. I was a maniac. I drew, drew, drew, drew, drew. And that’s how I learned. Purely by doing. In Japan there’s a phrase for it, it’s called aware karada, which basically means learning through your body. You practice something to the point where you don’t think anymore about it. It just comes out. The brain and hand barrier is absolutely taken out. So I think now I don’t think about my drawing at all. It just comes the way it comes. Another thing that was good about working in this entirely new medium—new to India at least—and not getting published was that it makes you learn everything from scratch. Which is why I feel that every graphic novelist from India—Amruta Patil, Vishwajyoti Ghosh, Orijit Sen, Appupen—is phenomenally original.“ I highly recommend reading the rest of this interview. Banerjee is a very thoughtful and interesting person and there is a crash course on Indian comics, film, and other pop culture to be had just by perusing this conversation. Read it HERE. I’ll be tracking down Banerjee’s other comics asap – and also looking for Orijit Sen’s comic. Sen has been making a ruckus lately with politically charged artwork – a recent article about his work and life can be found HERE. While I’m at it, I may as well link you up to the other comics makers Banerjee mentioned above – here’s Amruta Patil; Vishwajyoti Ghosh – an interview on TCJ; and Appupen. ———————————————————————————————— My research sucked me in and I discovered this comic by Appupen – Dedshort #7: The Ring of the Lord, originally published on Brainded. Appupen wrote: “This classic story has stood the test of time in Halahala. You can clearly see their influence on some popular stories of our world.” More on Appupen, from his website: “Appupen is a comics creator, visual artist and musician who tells stories from a mythical world called Halahala. Armed with a skewed view of the world and a sarcastic bite, he is a unique voice in Indian comics and comics in general. God recently appeared to him and said he needs to push out his comics more and hence this effort. Please help him.” As per this stated mission, there are tons more comics on his site – check them out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Other News of Note Unaiza Ali Barlas, a 20-year-old Lahore-based cartoonist, has been officially named in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the world’s longest strip. Her strip is 267.38 metres (877 feet) long! More details HERE. Tara Betts is interviewed on LA Review of Books – she is the editor of the anthology The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the Twenty-First Century (which includes work by Pittsburgh cartoonist Rachel Masilamani) – interview HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/07/2016

Posted on April 7, 2016April 8, 2016 by Harrison

For April 7 News and insights; Cameron has visions of cats on top of beats, comics about haircuts and squirrels, and artists you should know.

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RVA (RICHMOND,VIRGINIA) SHOUT OUT! ? ? ? ? ?

Cameron here, this time I’d like to shout out a RVA artist who’s been killin’ the game for some time now, Chris Visions. I’m not citing a back story other than that he was born to be a great artist. From doing covers for Marvel and DC to having a full series of his own, written by Chris Sabela; Dead Letters, I advise you to check it out like right now!

There are infinitely great things I can say about Chris so I’ll keep this short. This dude’s Illustration work is marvelous; the shapes create striking figures with unforgettable poses. He knows how to really put a story to each of the characters he draws/paints. Man, all I can say about his comic pages is CHECK THEM OUT! Seriously, go see them. You’ll see how great they are. Last but surely not least this man’s portfolio is filled with more colorful, striking, masterful pieces then anyone could did, Ya Dig?!

Here’s a link to his website, AND if any of ya’ll are at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, go see him at TABLE X-01!

He makes rad videos too:

EVERY WEEK I’m going to try and feature an RVA artist. I won’t be able to feature EVERYONE, but here and there I’ll mention some great people!

12919790_10156659390160251_4810349017351281928_n — Ron Wimberly – Prince of Cats

ATTENTION ATTENTION! ? ? ? ? ? ?

If you haven’t heard, Ronald Wimberly’s PRINCE OF CATS WILL BE GETTING A REPRINT BY IMAGE COMICS. If you don’t know who Ron Wimberly is then let me fill you in. He is a kick ass, bad ass, comic artist who constantly puts out beautiful pieces one after the other. He also has an updated comic on STELA called GratNin! Check it out on your cellular devices.

12919812_10156659390165251_5180080975712734556_n — Ron Wimberly – GratNin

Here’s a link to his Tumblr so you can follow and support a great comic artist!

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC!

FAT BEATS since 1994. I wont say much, go listen for yourself.

Marvelous beats for the everyday grind.

Comics are for EVERYONE!

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tumblr_o546opkJQA1rzbt9wo1_1280 — Page 34 *In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home*

Home

Kurt Ankeny’s latest update to his series In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home is on ComicsWorkbook. The sharp marks for pupils, eye glasses, and flesh against the softer graphite borders create an inviting contrast. More so, Kurt’s script works as the consistent foreground for his narration throughout the series.

Pre Order Some Copies

Read from the beginning

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Cd1nV4jUMAAc5wz — CREED (2015) DoP: Maryse Alberti | Dir: Ryan Coogler

Buddies

Filmmakers Charles Huettner and Sean Buckelew of L8Night WorkClub have a movie discussion/animation art talk podcast called Movie Buddies. This episode they rightfully gushed over Ryan Coogler’s second movie Creed with fellow filmmaker Brian Smee. In the second half of the show I asked them who some of their favorite black artists were and they gave some good answers that others should check out.

Listen Here

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tumblr_nzrjnuS78M1r4m362o3_500 — Kimball Anderson

it’s
the vestiges of
my
“career”
that I should abandon anyway

Kimball Anderson ? (Not a squirrel but close)

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Sticks and Stones

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Chris Visions, Daily News, Kurt Ankeny, ron wimberly

Harrison

Posted on April 7, 2016April 8, 2016

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02/01/2018

Comics WorkbookJanuary 31, 2018NewsBryce Davidson shares the work of Honore Daumier, and Chris Diaz has 3 new photo reports for us! ————————————————————————————————— Bryce Davidson here: What’s up with cartoons? Caricatures perhaps might be more accurate. Simplified, amplified, and elegant, is it just good drawing? Nice shapes and lines? No, there’s something more. Most of us who read comics and appreciate the form will understand what I am referring to. Why do we spend so much time looking at these distorted images when we could look at a real person with actual facial expressions? Why does that twisted grin of a Chuck Jones character seem to portray more emotion and depth than any actor in Hollywood? It’s a tough question. For one thing it seems that the exaggeration of a cartoon help consolidate and refine the emotions and actions of character. It’s like boiling down syrup – only the essential, the truth, remains. This brings me to the artist whom I want to focus on, one who everyone should know, especially within the current political climate – Honore Daumier, the quintessential political cartoonist. Coupling the revolutionary political climate of 17th century France and the burning hate of the bourgeoisie, “He revealed, as a true visionary, the faults endemic to the system that transcended the cast of political players” (Erlanger). The venom this guy spits in his drawings is insane. The introduction to Daumier: Politicians goes on to explain: “The overfed, somnolent, or sneering deputies in Daumier’s picture are physically and morally hideous. Here is an art that denounces not only individuals, but underlying attitudes. Daumier brings to the pitiless light of day monsters serving as puppets for monied interests, electoral fraud, and the inextricable links between money and power.“ I shouldn’t even have to mention how relevant it all is. If you’re looking for an artist who defined the sneer and critique of political caricature, look no further. I could rattle on about artists who are still producing work that rips this guy. His stuff is that universal. The characters are timeless, truly human, no smoke and mirrors. It’s really something that only a cartoon can do. Following are some more scans from the previously mentioned book, Daumier: Politicians by Philippe Erlanger. It can be purchased HERE if you’re interested in learning more. – Bryce Davidson Works Cited: Erlanger (Author), Philippe. “Introduction.” Daumier: Politicians, Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1992. ————————————————————————————————— Chris Diaz was busy attending comics events in the last few months! He shares photos from Jaime Hernandez’s Dec. 11th 2017 chat with Jordan Crane HERE, Charles Forsman at Comix Experience on Dec. 6th 2017 HERE, and Tom Gauld at a few places in Nov. 2017 while he was on tour for his new comic Baking With Kafka HERE. As always, comics fandom thanks you Chris! ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-1-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/29/2016

Sally IngrahamApril 29, 2016NewsSally here, scattering news items all down the hall of the CW headquarters in my excitement to get the stack to you! We’ve got a new Brazilian Comics Scene Report, quick conversations with Erin Curry and Ben Sears, some wisdom from Alyssa Berg, insights from Hazel Newlevant, an exciting development from both Nils Balls and Jeff Smith, and, randomly, a bunch of origami. Dive in! ————————————————————————————————— The fantastic Anna Mancini is back reporting for Comics Workbook, bringing us an absolutely jaw-dropping roundup of Brazilian cartoonists and comics news – the biggest, baddest scene report you’re likely to see anytime soon. Past scene reports we’ve brought to you have been about a single US city – Anna’s report covers the entire country of Brazil, breaking it down by state and region. It is a wild, exciting ride that is sure to kindle your interest and make you seriously consider hopping on a plane and just going there. Check out the magnificent beast HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Erin Curry spent part of January and February of this year trying to get more in touch with snow and whiteness, via the tumble of Vermont’s (not very frozen, actually, this winter) hills and vales. The Vermont Studio Center just posted a report on the studio visit they paid her, and it is lovely to get a peak into her thoughts and process. This bit especially resonated – VSC: What does community mean to you? EC: The community I appreciate the most is the one of makers (broadly defined). We’re agents of reflection and agency in a culture that often turns to consumption of mass produced things and entertainment for fulfillment. It’s pretty revolutionary, yeah? And then! We get to have dialogue with the rest of our communities working towards better lives. Read the whole report HERE. Below is a comic Erin made for the 4PANELProject during her time in VT, which features, according to her, maybe the first figure to appear in her comics. ————————————————————————————————— Inverse did a quick interview with Ben Sears this week, in anticipation of the release of Night Air, coming in May from Koyama Press. They delve into the origins of the story, discuss the “all-ages” aspect of Ben’s work, and listen to the track (also called Night Air) by Tortoise that evokes the mood of the book. And of course – Do you have any favorite illustrations in the book? Whenever the characters are walking into a new place, or just silently exploring, that’s my favorite stuff to draw. I’m really proud of the panels of them running around town, walking into Apple Town at night, and coming up on the castle. If I had the time and financial backing, I would do a whole comic like that. I certainly hope he can do that someday – but until then we can savor those panels in Night Air while listening to this: ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg released the first installment in a series of process meditations today, written exclusively for Comics Workbook. Her thoughts were inspired by a visit to a local museum. The visit to the Rubin brought my attention to ritual, meditation and devotion in artistic practice – in other people’s practice and my own. The daily act of going to my desk and preparing the space is an important ritual. It is the practice before the practice, the thing I do before I do the thing I do. Is calling my studio area a sacred space too heavy-handed? Well, my hands are heavy holding all this Palo Santo and sage that I am burning to clear any bad vibrations from the aforementioned sacred space. Considering that such preparations help Alyssa produce the type of exquisite work that she is known for (see below)…everyone should attend to her words – and look forward to the rest of this series. Check out all of Part One HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Hazel Newlevant revealed another page from her comic Finding Place, which will be published in the ALPHABET anthology of queer cartoonists. The story as a whole is about falling in love with comics and with girls, but this page is pointed more at some of the weird realities of being a cartoonist. You can read the first 3 pages of the story HERE. Hazel is the editor of the anthology Chainmail Bikini, which was successfully Kickstarted and printed last year. She won a Queer Press Grant in 2013, which allowed her to make If This Be Sin, and set her on the path to support other up-and-coming queer cartoonists – and I have to say, “Thanks for what you do, Hazel!” ————————————————————————————————— Nils “Balls” Hanczar has been sitting in on Pittsburgh City Council meetings for a long time, and it’s not surprising that he makes cartoons about them. Nils is the creator of the You Can Did It comics and the epic Ship of Soiled Doves, and now The Glassblock is taking him on as their official “City Council Cartoonist”. This should get interesting! ————————————————————————————————— I am beside myself with excitement over this recent announcement – Jeff Smith is bringing us a little bit more BONE! Bone:Coda will be released in July, and it sounds wicked. 25 years after the first black & white issue of the self-published comic book BONE appeared on comic shop shelves, and over a decade since the concluding chapter comes a new (and completely superfluous!) adventure featuring the Bone cousins! Ride along with the boys and their friend Bartleby the Baby Rat Creature as they brave the dangerous journey across the desert back to Boneville in their rickety cow cart. The book will include the complete, and now fully illustrated, The BONE Companion by Stephen Weiner, as well as a plethora of behind the scenes photos and memories from Jeff. I pretty much can not wait! ————————————————————————————————— All right, all right, I’ll shut my trap after this and let you alone for the weekend…but lastly, I want to share a different approach to paper. Origami artist Sipho Mabona has been folding paper since he was a child, and as you can see above, he’s pretty good at making paper figures. However, it’s what he’s doing after he folds something up that interests me. He unfolds it…and makes a whole other sort of art. These are the creases left by folding his Cicada design, and this is the piece that gets framed. Below is his Hermit Crab, flattened. In the tags for the piece below, Sipho uses #sequence and #evolution, in addition to #creasepattern, and somehow it all comes back to comics… Check out more of Sipho’s work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— That’s a wrap on April for us here in the Comics Workbook newsroom! Spring is undeniable now, despite occasional cold spells and snow storms, and we’ll be back in May to put the garden in and water the seedling comics. Until then, cheers! – Sally Share this page: [...]

TCAF 2016 | Chippendale, Mickey, Como, Marra, Minette, Jesjit

Juan FernándezJune 3, 2016Festivals and ShowsShare this page: [...]

07/11/2018

Juan FernándezJuly 11, 2018los Cómics / NewsHartley Lin at Comix Experience; Drawing A Dialogue Episode 13; CARTOON DIALECTICS #3 by Tom Kaczynski and Clara Jetsmark; Shortbox U.S.Distribution – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Hartley Lin Talk with Brian Hibbs at Comix Experience Here on the site, Chris Anthony Diaz offers us some great documentation of Hartley Lin‘s talk at Comix Experience from this past June. After his Young Frances (published by Adhouse Books) book signing, Brian Hibbs interviewed Hartley Lin for the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club, San Francisco, Wednesday evening, June 13, 2018 You can watch the interview HERE. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Review – CARTOON DIALECTICS #3 by Tom Kaczynski and Clara Jetsmark Nick Hanover, Your Chicken Enemy Inside the pages of Cartoon Dialectics #3, Tom Kaczynski and Clara Jetsmarkforce you to consider the cheerful yet ominous reach of the nostalgic blob, that cultural motivator that compels us to look backward even as we’re moving forward. Connecting nostalgia to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement as well as the styles and tastes of progressives and, in its potent final section, Kaczynski’s own relationship with his past, the central question of Cartoon Dialectics’ third installment isn’t “How did we get here?” but “Why do we keep returning here?” When I spoke to Kaczynski in 2013, that question weighed heavily on both our minds, running through our discussions of gentrification, global warming, the mystification of technology and beyond. Kaczynski told me that the frequently bleak stories collected in his impressive work Beta Testing the Apocalypse were inspired not by dystopian works but his interest in utopian fiction and his time growing up under communism, a system that was itself utopian in design but nonetheless broke down in execution. Responding to a point I made about the negative outcomes of his stories, Kaczynski said: “If my stories seem really negative, it’s only because I’m examining the negative to see if a positive can be teased out eventually.” – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – U.K. Based ShortBox Rolling out US distribution Zainab Akhtar: I’m happy to share some good news today: ShortBox is partnering with White Squirrel to offer domestic fulfilment to our US-based customers. What this means is if you’re based in the US and want to buy ShortBox, you will no longer be charged international shipping rates, but a domestic rate, with packages shipping through the US postal system. (Read More) – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Vivir para Contarla – Jesus Cossio Entrevistado Pablo Turnes, Revista Kamandi Jesús Cossio (Lima, 1974) es uno de los autores contemporáneos de historieta más notables de Perú. Su trayectoria como historietista comenzó en el circuito limeño de los fanzines pero fue sin dudas con Rupay – coproducido junto a Alfredo Villar y Luis Rossell – que su obra comenzó a generar interés y a ser conocida por fuera de las fronteras nacionales. Su trabajo sobre la memoria del pasado inmediato siguió con Barbarie (Lima: Contracultura, 2010). Además de dar talleres, ha organizado exposiciones y presentado su obra en otros países como Argentina – al que estuvo invitado para el festival Viñetas Sueltas en 2009 y 2010 – Brasil, Colombia, Venezuela y más recientemente los Estados Unidos. Tuve la oportunidad de ver su presentación en el ICAF en 2017, y fue francamente estremecedor su relato tranquilo pero sin concesiones, como quien habla con la certeza del que ha comprobado e indagado en lo más terrible de su sociedad. Cossio no es verborrágico: va al grano y es exacto como un bisturí. A partir de ciertas inquietudes sobre la dimensión ética de su trabajo, sus propias posiciones y compromiso, se generó este diálogo a la distancia. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Drawing A Dialogue – Episode 13 New episode of Cathy G. Johnson and e jackson’s, Drawing A Dialogue is up! They are building off of the stereotypes in cartooning we discussed in Ep 12, specifically how fat bodies are depicted in the media. It’s a great listen. Listen here. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Suzy and Cecil – 07-11-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

CREEP HIGHWAY & the CANDY BOYZ

Chris Anthony DiazMay 23, 2016The Diaz Archiveat the NAMING GALLERY & ElI’S MILE HIGH CLUB oakland, monday, october 6, 2014 shot & edited by chris anthony diaz featuring musical performances by michael deforge, patrick kyle, alvin buenaventura, simon hanselmann, marc arsenault and dylan dockstader Share this page: [...]

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